WELLINGTON (1769-1852)

Two great generals were born
in 1769. One was Napoleon Bonaparte; the other was his final
conqueror, Arthur Wellesley, who became the first duke of
Wellington. Arthur Wellesley (or Wesley, as the name was first
written) was born on May 1, 1769, in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth son
of an Irish nobleman. He attended the preparatory school at
Chelsea and Eton College. Later he was sent to military school at
Angers, France, for a year.

At 17 he entered the British army. Through the custom of
purchasing commissions, he became a lieutenant colonel at 23, but
his later achievements justified his quick promotion. In the hill
country of India from 1796 to 1805, he conquered Mahratta chiefs
who had sworn to drive the English into the sea. In making treaties
that closed the war with these tribes, he proved himself an able
diplomat as well.

In 1805 he left India for the war with Napoleon in Europe. He
won a notable victory in his first campaign on the French-held
Spanish peninsula, but the results were lost by incompetent
superiors. In 1809 he returned as commander in chief. In five years
he drove Napoleon's generals from the Iberian Peninsula.

After Napoleon's first exile Wellington was in Paris as Britain's
ambassador to the restored king of France. Napoleon's escape
from Elba sent Wellington back into military service. Finally at
Waterloo, with the aid of Prussian troops, Wellington met and
vanquished Napoleon himself (see Battle of Waterloo).

For years Wellington was one of the most influential men in all of
Europe. As prime minister of Great Britain from 1828 to 1830,
however, he was less successful. He was an aristocrat who failed to
note the changing times. He dismissed without consideration the
demand for parliamentary reform and the extension of the right to
vote as the work of agitators. He was forced to resign and had to
protect his house from a mob. When the angry passions of the times
subsided, people granted that Wellington, while not always an able
statesman, had tried to do what he believed best for the nation. He
died at Walmer Castle in Kent, England, on Sept. 14, 1852.